Bright Light at Midnight

Matthew 4:12-16

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

Jesus Christ is the light of the world who has come to obliterate the darkness, to demolish the blackness of sin and the gloom of death. His light is hope for the lost, liberation from blindness, and the morning after a nightmare.

Once as a boy, I did one of those juvenile things boys stupidly will do. As a kind of initiation, I slithered with a couple of friends down a storm drain that fed off into a huge sewer intended to carried rain water off the San Gabriel mountains above our homes in Altadena, California. Each of us lay down in the street gutter and squirmed our way quite a few feet underground until dropping ourselves into the massive tile which must have been at least eight feet high. We had no flashlight and had to hold each other’s outstretched hands to grope along in pitched darkness.

As I remember it, Mike Geibel was touching one side wall and maybe Steve Perry the other. One or two others of us walked in the middle. It was so black that our eyes never adjusted. There was no light whatsoever. I worried about possible drop-offs. Thank God it didn’t start to rain. An awful lot of water can come off those mountains, and this was no minor storm pipe.

I don’t know how far we walked. It seemed a long way. We certainly weren’t going to be doing any slithering out the way we came in. Any other street conduits, if we could have seen them, were high on the wall. I had my eyes wide open, but eyes, open or shut, don’t produce light.

But that night I saw a great light. Suddenly ahead of us, I saw a vivid brightness. How great it was to see a beam so propitious. We guys walked straight toward it. It was an auroral and striking light. And then we walked out into the dry reservoir.

Know what? It was near midnight, but until then I hadn’t realized how bright even starlight is. From the region and shadow of death even the glint of a single star gives hope.

To the land of Zebulun and the land of Nahtali beyond Jordan God gave the people dwelling in darkness a great light a wonderful and boundless light. Christ’s coming was not a single shaft of light as though through a crack. He is not just a glimmer of hopefulness or mere spark of optimism. He is the light beyond all suns or infinite candle power. He is Himself the light.

God gave a great light. He sent the full-blown dawn of a brand new day, radiant with the blaze of his own countenance. The promised Christ, the light of the world, was come.

In the closing promises of the Old Testament, God spoke through Malachi of that day when God would act, “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”

You should have seen us boys in that dry basin that night. Minutes before we were walking like frail old men holding onto the wall or tentatively testing each step with indecision and constant doubt. The light changed all that. The clock said midnight, but we had light.

We let go. Like idiotic ninnies we ran, skipped, and were young again … like calves from the stall. I hope to never underestimate light again or take it for granted.

When St. Matthew quotes Isaiah, “… for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death” he is speaking of all of us. Underground where the dead are buried, where this is no light or life, he broke in. To shine on us, Christ would come into the region of our death. God didn’t just train a spotlight on us. He came Himself into the darkness and overcame it.

A light has dawned. The darkness is ended. And for us who bask in Christ’s light, upon whom His countenance has been lifted, even if the clock says midnight, even if others say we Christians live in a gloom of naiveté and gullibility, even if darkness threatens and the dark lord would have us think Christ’s doctrine be a murky fog, you and I know differently.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation.” (Psalm 27:1a) Egypt may be plunged into darkness, but we live in the land of Goshen (Exodus 10:21-23), the region where God's people, as the church of Jesus Christ, are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8).

Tain't .........

Acts 23:1

And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God's high priest?” And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

Of all the words in common English, there is one I have come to loathe. There is nothing wrong with the word itself. It isn't profane or obscene. There is nothing offensive in the dictionary’s definition of it, but I still detest it. It is a “four-letter-word” but not in the sense of what that usually means. It is not a politically incorrect word for which I would be criticized by the language police.

But I come very close to hating this word. It scratches my eardrums and nearly always makes we wince. Inside I churn and grind my teeth. It just “gets to me.”

Oddly enough the word has a definition most think honorable people would appreciate. I don’t. I feel bad about it because the word fits right into the wheelhouse of our American sense of decency. These days President Obama seems to use it in nearly ever sentence he speaks on the campaign trail. He hopes to secure a second term as president on the strength of this single word.

In the passage from Acts cited above, the word isn't exactly used, but the concept is at the heart of an exchange between St. Paul and the Jewish religious authorities. Paul had an entirely different footing than they did.

Ananias, the high priest, presumed to live on this word, to have it define his life, office, and conduct. With it, Ananias believed he could justify any behavior and exonerate any personal faults of his own just by invoking his own interpretation of it.

St. Paul on the other hand considered the word so toxic that he would use it only when absolutely necessary, and knowing its dangers, just as quickly back away from it.

I went looking through various Bible translations and never found the word used except in a few places with an entirely different meaning—a meaning something like a balmy breeze or a bonny day.

But otherwise, our modern use of it is virtually unknown in the scriptures. The right biblical term would be the word “just.”

But the word I hate is the word “fair.”

President Obama on the other hand, loves it. He adores it. He uses it all the time. The rich have to pay their “fair share.” The little guy has to be given a “fair shot.” More federal regulations will give folks a “fair deal.” You voters are not being given a “fair shake.” You’re being robbed of “fair value.”

Whiners love to claim, “Tain’t fair; tain’t fair; tain’t fair.”

Tain’t fair what the corporations are doing to you. Tain’t fair that someone should have more than you. Tain’t fair that you’re not a winner. Tain’t fair that you don’t get what other people got.

The word “fair” in that spirit means something entirely subjective. Something isn't fair just because I say so. Such “fairness” is one-sided and exactly the opposite of the actual meaning of the word. Fairness used to mean free from bias or injustice. Most griping about fairness today is selfish.

St. Paul got slugged right in the mouth for declaring his innocence against charges made against him. He was accused of speaking against God's Word, God's people, and the temple. When Paul declared his clear conscience, the high priest ordered somebody to belt Paul right in the kisser.

Paul didn’t whine about it. Undoubtedly, he didn’t like it, but you have to look carefully here. Paul didn’t use the law of fairness to defend himself. He didn’t bellyache over his treatment and simply bawl, “Tain’t fair, you bully.”

Notice what the apostle actually does. He uses this lethal weapon of the law—real justice—and gives it back to Ananias in spades, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall.”

It was as though Paul was saying to Ananias; You look fair. You look fine. You look bonny and nice and whitewashed, but you make a perilous choice to mock justice when you can't bear it’s scrutiny on yourself. “Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”

Mind you, Paul was not defending himself with the Law. Paul’s words were not a defense. They were offense. Paul had just said his conscious was clear. “I have lived my life before God in all good conscience.” Paul’s footing was the righteousness of faith in Christ, not righteousness through the law. He didn’t need to plea the law. Paul’s use of the law was the proper use—the exposure of sin even if that sin comes from one holding the highest office in the church.

And yet, when it was pointed out to him even by his opponents that he was bound to show consideration for his rulers, immediately Paul realizes the parallel duty he has to show respect. He quickly retreats from the law, not because he disavows its proper use but because he knows his own vulnerability under the dominion of the law. The apostle knew he had been treated unjustly, but he cares little for that. His conscience before God rests on the merit of Christ in whom he trusts.

But Ananias is a different matter. Here is a man alleging the use of the law without actually knowing it. So, Paul gives him a lesson. He absolutely nails Ananias with the law because that’s what Ananias needed. But Paul knows how quickly and justifiably that same law, like a sin-seeking torpedo can just as quickly turn and seek him out.

That’s why I hate the word “fair.”

Not that there isn't a proper place for evenhandedness, impartiality, and fair dealing in the affairs of men. But we can be all too cavalier with this potent material of the law. When it is used as cover for oneself or as a club against somebody else, it is more dangerous than handling nitroglycerin.

The law kills.

No one ever heard Jesus say, “Tain’t fair!” The opposition, the slander, the abuse against him; the unjust arrest, the maltreatment, the unwarranted verdict, the castigation, the scourging, the cross— Did Jesus ever cry, “Tain’t fair”?

Christ Jesus was the only truly righteous man who ever lived, and he had a right to cry, “Foul!” But He didn’t in order to bear the full force of the law’s condemnation against our sin which He had taken as his own.

That’s why today’s stunted appeals to what is “fair” so often grinds me. For example, if God or man gave me what is really fair, I would be on the receiving end of unspeakably harsh and objective justice. Not that God wouldn’t give me a fair trial. He would.

But I would lose!

And I would receive a whole lot worse than a bloody mouth.

Thank God he is not putting us believers on trial. The verdict is already in. And God's sentence is mercy to us for Christ’s sake. You and I have already received in Christ by our baptism that which is entirely unfair … clemency, kindness, and grace. Let’s not return therefore to invoking a right to fairness in light of that. In short— mercy it isn't fair, but that’s the glory of it.

Meanwhile, I’m convinced the eternal hellish cry of the damned will be, “This ain’t fair!” Oh, no. Justice is indeed fair, eminently fair, and those who invoke it will be getting just what they ask for.

As such, let us not get in the habit of saying here that odious complaint of hell, “Tain’t fair.”

Nothing Stupid

Romans 7:15

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

The fact is: We do stupid stuff. Procrastination of a chore that will have to be done sooner or later. How stupid to put it off, but we all know what it is to drag our feet. Anger over some trivial matter which only makes matters worse. How stupid is that? Stubbornness. How stupid. A hard heart—recklessness. A careless word—thoughtlessness. Leaving someone else out—just plane unkindness. “I don’t understand what I do.”

The famous comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis had a falling out and wouldn’t speak for years and years. Stupid.

According to one historian, the legendary feud between the Kentucky McCoys and the West Virginia Hatfields began when two of their children, Roseanna and Johnse just wanted to get married. Others say the blood feud which eventually claimed dozens of lives began over ownership of a hog. Floyd Hatfield had it and Randolph McCoy said it was his.

Who knows? But we do such stupid things. A grudge. A bad habit. Absence from worship. Failure to apologize. Nit-picking criticism of others. Take a close look and one of those will fit.

Paul said again in verse 19, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

This was more than the puzzlement or bewilderment of a man stating the truth of his own stupidity. This was a man aware of the sin living in him. He confessed, “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” A feud was being waged in his own mind and body.

Intelligence is no cure for stupidity. Some very intelligent people like former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich flabbergast others by their senseless stupidity. Neither are more rules or legislation a therapy for idiocy. An idiot like me only breaks them and becomes more evil. The apostle knew this profoundly. “Who,” he cries out, “will rescue me from this body of death?”

Who will rescue me from this incomprehension and incredulous stupidity warring in me?

“Who,” he cries. Not what! Who will rescue me from my stupid, stupid sins? Not, “When will I grow up?” or “How can I beat this thing?” or “Where can I escape from my folly?” but WHO—who will come to help me?

Who never retaliated, never made threats (1 Peter 2:23), never returned insults or harmed? Who never made a gaffe or blunder—a man without error, a sinless man? I need one who is wisdom. I need “Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Cor. 1:30).

Of course, remember that even his friends thought Jesus was stupid to return to Jerusalem when the authorities already had tried to stone him there. His leading disciple, Peter, considered Jesus ridiculous not to at least put up a fight. This was nothing new. Once his own family went to take charge of Jesus, for they said, "He is out of his mind." (Mark 3:21) Was Jesus stupid to love us so? Was he a meathead to endure the foolishness of friends and the farce set up by his enemies?

You can believe that they called him that and more. What names were hurled at God’s Son we shame to even think. Oh, God, what assault to his ears, his character, his person when it is I who am such a sinful fool, doing what I hate and failing to do what I ought to do.

St. Paul’s answer to his incomprehensible dilemma was simply to shout, “Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25), who has never called us a name except to call us Christian—to give us His name; who never played the fool but displayed the very wisdom of God through the cross. Going to his death for you and me was never rash or dim-witted. It was conscious, reckoned, holy, deliberate, and intentional.

Jesus doesn’t do stupid stuff.

When he forgives you, he is not being taken in or played for a sucker. He is rescuing you. When he daily and richly shields and cares for you, it’s not silly. It is our God mindful of his promises and premeditated in the guardianship of you, whom he loves, not because you’re astute or know how to step carefully (you and I aren’t any more than St. Paul was), but because He, Christ, is flawless in mercy, love, and undeserved favor. We have been unwise in many things and have done more stupid stuff than we can count. But there is nothing stupid in the cure of all that in the cross.

Prayer: Lord, forgive my stupidity, my sin. And help me to see the wisdom of the cross by which my Savior, Jesus Christ, heals and blesses me. Thanks be to God. Amen

Infant Baptism -- The Gospel in Force

Colossians 2:6-7

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

With all the early church fathers, the universal church throughout the ages, and with all those who hold to Scripture's central doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone for the sake of Christ alone, we believe in the power of baptism to save because it is the power of the Gospel.

Baptism is not exclusive to adults, to the learned, to the dedicated, or to the accountable. It is not limited to those who have made a decision for Christ. It is never restricted because it is God's saving Word, and His power to save is never inhibited.

A little child, even the tiny infant receives Christ through baptism. Little hands do not reach up into heaven. God's nail-marked hands reach down to the child. That little one’s immature voice is fluent only in the bawl of a newborn baby. He or she has nothing sweet to say, but sweet are the promises Christ speaks. "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11)

I recall the holy baptism of my dear granddaughter. The work was God's, not hers.

This was God's work, not that of the church, or her parents, nor her sponsors, nor by anything she fetched along. She came with nothing but her need, her sin, and her helplessness.

The delivery of life comes through Christ alone. Scripture can be understood rightly in no other way.

"Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word." (Eph. 5:26)

Have you ever seen a baby clean up after itself? Babies have a regular habit of making a stinking mess. Likewise, born corrupt, every babe-in-arms has no way out of the soil of sin. The answer is Christ who cleanses through the Word in baptism.

Again: "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:5-6)

Have you ever seen an infant free itself from a broken high chair or run from a dangerous animal? Likewise, saving from the devil's threats and this broken world is the Lord's rescue.

"He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Col. 2:11-12)

Christ has done this. There is nothing whatsoever in these texts that suggests salvation is teamwork. Baptism is neither our act of submission nor our act of worth. It is entirely God's doing. The child of God (infant or elderly) receives. That's it: God delivers and we receive.

We don't earn, merit, or deserve one good thing from God. Yet, through the grace of His Son, God gives the kingdom of heaven with one Word and one drop of water.

This is how one receives Christ. As a gift! Through no work of one's own!

Our granddaughter didn't lift a finger. She supplied exactly nothing. Her contribution added up to one comprehensive grand total of absolute zero.

Christ did it all. He loved her, He elected her. He lived for her and died for her. He conquered death for her. He created her. He sought her and planned for her. He supplied her life and limb, home, family, and health. And He did all of this for her without one iota of exertion or one grain of understanding from her.

Do not suppose, therefore, that the greatest Gift of all, the gift of the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, and eternal salvation will be hers only on consignment.

To deny infant baptism is to emasculate the very Gospel of Christ.

It places God into limbo waiting on events determined by the choices we make. Nothing could be more radically contrary to the very core of the Christian message. It basically makes God an observer rather than the Savior.

If you understand the absolute grace of Christ in baptism, then you will also understand the remainder of these short verses and how one walks in Christ as they grow older. It is by grace.

How is one built up and established in the faith? Not by making mighty efforts, wringing out of ourselves decisions to do better, or committing oneself to strict religious practice. No, it is by faith in Christ's goodness and depending utterly on Him.

How is one to abound in thanksgiving?

Never by turning a share of it back on oneself with congratulations for anything we have done. Ours is simply a life of thanks rendered to Christ alone for his endless love and goodwill.

That is the life our granddaughter was given. That's why the day of her water baptism in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit was the greatest day in her life (not just the greatest to up until then, but the greatest ever!). And that's why it was a sublime joy for all of us to share - because we are the baptized too.

Never Plain Stock

Philippians 2:19-24

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

Especially since the time of Henry Ford and the industrial revolution, almost everything around us is mass produced and can be acquired "off the shelf." True craftsmanship which makes something one-of-a-kind is disappearing as every energy is given to avoid what is costly, time-consuming, or labor-intensive.

Consequently, we are accustomed to standardization, interchangeable parts, and homogeneity on many fronts. If your old Chevy Impala, purchased in Bay City blows a gasket in Biloxi, Mississippi, you expect Bubba at the local auto parts store simply to find a duplicate on their shelf. A Big Mac in Bend, Oregon will have exactly the same all beef patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on the indistinguishable sesame seed bun as the burgers at McDonald's on Garfield Road.

People, however, do not come in stock. We don't deny having a common physiology or that organ transplants can't be done. I speak rather of the blessed distinctiveness which human beings have enjoyed as persons individually created and cherished by God.

Adam could not say he was in any way more perfect than botany or beast, but he did rejoice in the unique favor of being made like no other. Adam was made in the image of God to know God as Father, to bear the likeness of God the Son and to reflect the righteousness of God, the Holy Spirit. At the very beginning, God took special care when it came to the crown of His creation. All the rest of what God created was in no way inferior or less important to God, but when it came to the creation of man, God chose to fashion man by hand.

Eve also was brought into being through the manual marvel of God who took in hand the flesh and bone of Adam to shape her when no other suitable helper was found. There was nothing "on the shelf" to meet the exceptional need of Adam. The beginning of humanity was not the Lord setting up a Henry Ford styled production line. It was the peculiar formation of human beings, each of whom to the end of time would be individually loved, personally called to faith, and singularly valued.

There are no cookie-cutter Christians. Yes, each of us have been created and redeemed by Christ, but there the resemblance ends. It is analogous to a master painter who produces a beautiful canvas. He is the artist of all his works, but each painting is beautiful in its own right and unlike all the others.

Likewise, each Christian has been given distinctive gifts, opportunities, and callings as unique as a fingerprint. Though we are all members of the body of Christ, "God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body." (1 Cor. 12:18-20)

This gives none of us the right to boast, as St. Paul says, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." (Rom. 12:3)

We Christians ought to see each other in the distinctive rolls God has given. Each of you were re-created in Christ to have an unparalleled place in the composition of Christ's church. You are not a cog or unessential. When you are not here, we don't just plug in someone else. You are not a transferable commodity. You are a child of God whom He has personally baptized, named, and called. God does not lump you into a batch of believers. He fits you exquisitely into union with himself and with other Christians exactly where He means for you to belong.

And to do so, Christ did not avoid what was costly, time-consuming, or labor-intensive. Just the opposite. Your redemption was costly. Even the salvation of one human being would have required the death of Christ. Jesus didn't compress the paying of your ransom into a free weekend. He committed his entire life. He doesn't limit his good things for you to a hurried hello and good-bye. His labor of love was exhaustive because you mean that much to him and there was no cheap or cheaper method to rescue you.

Christ did it by hand. Personally. Carefully. Painstakingly. Each human being's sin was paid for to the last drop of his precious blood. He knows you by name and by touch.

St. Paul commended his friend and fellow servant of the Gospel, Timothy, to the church at Philippi. Paul said of Timothy, "I have no one else like him." Paul was so grateful for this special young man who was like a son to him. Timothy also shouldered undertakings for which God had uniquely prepared him. In a particular place for a particular time, there was no one else like Timothy.

But the same is said for you. In your specific circumstance, with the unique opportunities to touch the lives of others as no one else can, you serve in the cause of the Gospel, not seeking your own interest but those of Jesus Christ.

Of course, there could be no other like Timothy. Just as there will never be another St. Paul or another Martin Luther or another C.F.W. Walther. Why? Because we don't need a facsimile or replica of them. God isn’t into making run of the mill Christians. We have you. And you. And you. And you.

God is well able to apply his grace exactly where it will do the most good, and He has certainly done so for you. With precision and genius, with the investment of His own life, He has placed you right were you belong in his kingdom, and called you to joyful service which is yours alone.

Don't let anyone make you think being a Christian is ever generic. Christ is far too committed to you ever to regard you as plain stock.

Simply Be a Lutheran

Ephesians 6:10-20

You can often tell the vintage of a congregation by its name.

Lutheran churches that go back a century or more often have names like Zion, Bethlehem, or Trinity.

Congregations founded in the 50s or thereabouts are more likely to have names like Faith, Peace, or Grace Lutheran like ours.

I know this is an awfully broad generalization, but it is only recently you hear of Lutheran congregations being named something like Christ of the Pines or Lord of the Shoreline or some such name.

I am disappointed when the name "Lutheran" is omitted in some recent cases. In fact, I'm downright angry if it is a mission of our Synod.

Lutheran is the thing which clearly distinguishes us whether we are Immanuel Lutheran, St. Steven Lutheran, or Christ the Cornerstone Lutheran-whatever.

Lutheran speaks of the body of those teachings we confess. Lutheran means Christ-centered, sacramental, evangelical in the best sense meaning "of the Gospel" where Christ and Christ alone is our confidence.

Lutheran is professing the solid Biblical doctrine of justification by faith and proclaiming not just the possibility but the certainty of life eternal because it rests on the Son of God alone. What Jesus has done by his life, suffering, death, and resurrection has earned for all of us mercy we could never hope for otherwise.

That's what the Virgin Mary rejoiced in when she sang, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior -- for the Mighty One has done great things for me -- His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation."

By the way, I think it's time someone considered naming a new congregation St. Mary Lutheran Church. Mary believed in Christ alone for her salvation; Mary anticipated with certainty life eternal. She rejoiced in God's undeserved mercy too. We Lutherans stand with her and all the saints in that joy. I think it would be fitting to have a St. Mary Lutheran Church.

Yea, I like it.

Simply Be a Christian

Psalm 32:1-5

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

When Martin Luther, in his Large Catechism says, "When I urge you to go to confession, I'm simply urging you to be a Christian," he crystallizes something very simple for you to know. Being a Christian is not an achievement. It isn't a good conduct label or something socially favorable to help people believe you are nice or a good person. It's none of those things.

Simply said, being a Christian is to confess-to be a confessor of the truth about yourself and about God who makes himself known in Jesus Christ.

The Christian says of himself, "I am nothing but a horrible sinner, and nothing can be found in me except rebellion against God and death. "I know that in my flesh lives no good thing."

Of Christ, however, I say this. He is God in human flesh. He is the very righteousness of God and Life and Truth.

Only by faith, can we know just how miserable our sinful condition is before God, and only by faith can we know how pure and gracious is Christ, our God. That faith is worked in us by God's Word.

So what is confession? Confession has two parts. The first is that we acknowledge our sins, and plead guilty across-the-board even of those transgressions of which we may not be aware. We do this in the Lord's prayer, saying "Forgive us our trespasses."

You may also go to your pastor and confess the burden of those sins privately. But confession is also receiving the forgiveness of God, believing fully that the pardon pronounced by the pastor privately or in the Divine Service is from God himself.

The Christian will not doubt but firmly believe that by this absolution his sins are forgiven.

St. John says it most beautifully, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Are there any sweeter words or a more liberating assurance than to hear God's messenger declare, "I forgive you all your sin's in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."? Yes, they are forgiven! You are forgiven - forgiven all - in Jesus Christ.

No Tripping

Romans 14:13

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

I was a terrible football player. At my age now, I think I’m beyond the machismo that would prevent me from admitting it. But I was. One could tell because I was literally the only player on my high school squad who, instead of posing for the yearbook picture with a stern and dangerous glower, I just grinned at the camera with a ludicrously dopey smile on my face. I remember our defensive coach finally telling me in exasperation, “Reed, just go over there, fall down, and let people trip over you.”

Actually that’s a pretty good description of what the Bible here calls a stumbling block, the disparaging criticism that passes judgment on someone else. Passing judgment is always a cheap shot. And it is always below the belt. Why? Because the critic has already fallen himself. From his position any blame on another will be a low blow. He only threatens to bring someone else down with him. Passing judgment is always a low blow because it never comes from someone standing tall.

In this simple verse, the apostle Paul shows that predominantly failure comes in pairs. Misery loves company. One sin leads so suddenly to another, and before you and I know it, we’re in a trading war. Passing judgment has just about the quickest of boomerang effects.

You know what I mean.

Disparaging someone or sneering at them is one abrupt way to get the same in return if not a whole ham fist right back at you. With sin, it takes two to tango. That’s why Paul says, “Let’s no longer pass judgment on one another” because if I’m taking you down, then I’m inescapably going down myself.

This is the nature of sin. It is so infectious. In the Garden of Eden, the fact that both Adam and Eve failed makes the question of who sinned first moot. The evil began with Satan, but it doesn’t matter who started a feud. Bickering will always cause multiple casualties. The finger pointing of two tangled up little boys never ends with a winner. And the odds are no better for grown ups who act that way. Adam and Eve fell together. This is why becoming a stumbling block to a brother is so dreadful. It is a deadly blow to our own flesh and blood.

In this kind of thing Jesus never participated. Every time someone tried to draw him into a quarrel, Jesus would say something like he did in Luke 12, “Who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

It wasn't that Jesus didn’t see or understand the faults of others. It wasn't that he wasn't provoked. It wasn't that he couldn’t have taken his tormentors apart. But nothing Jesus ever said or did was a hindrance to others. Even when he spoke severe Law, this was not passing judgment. It was Him identifying the obstacles, temptations, and sins that so easily entangle. These He would ultimately carry away on His own back.

One of the most comforting passages of Scripture is 1 Peter 2:22-24, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

What is Advent but the beginning of a new day in which all the stumbling blocks, impediments, hold-ups and barriers are swept away.

The prophetic vision of Isaiah has come true with the Advent of Christ, “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.” John the Baptist went out preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Do we know what that means?

It means there is no judgment against anyone baptized into Christ. There is no censure and no condemnation from God. There isn't even a slap on the wrist. There is no finger pointing, sucker punches, or ambushing others with criticisms they can't get past.

The standard doesn’t have to be very high to jam somebody. All you need is one little failing to point out and they won't be able to get around it. But St. Luke quotes Isaiah, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” (Luke 3:4-6)

This is the glorious confirmation of a barrier-free world where the disabled can come and not fall, where the guilty can come and not be condemned, where the blind will not stumble or the weak ever be trampled—where the path is straight and the rough places become level ways. This, my friends, is the bases on which to take Paul’s admonition.

In Romans 14, just before Paul begs us not to pass judgment on one another or hinder a brother, the Bible says, “We will all stand before the judgment seat of God…each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

“Therefore, let us not pass judgment.” Grammatically, the “therefore” is immediately tied to this warning of our own accountability. But I think the “therefore” reached back to Luke and Isaiah. “Every valley shall be filled, every mountain made low, the way made straight and level and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Therefore!

The salvation of our God in the coming of Christ is the antecedent of our judgment-free, feud-free, barrier-free, and sin-free life together. In Christ is the salvation of our God. In him we now rise together with our brothers and show by Christ’s forgiveness that He has lifted us up.

No longer are we the fallen with others tripping over us.

The church's job is to die.

Excerpt from an article "How to Shrink the Church" from the Huffington Post Religion section, by Tim Suttle.

The fundamental problem with the one-two punch of sentimentality and pragmatism is, of course, the church's job is not to affirm people's lives, but to allow the gospel to continually call our lives into question. The church's job is not to grow -- not even to survive. The church's job is to die -- continually -- on behalf of the world, believing that with every death there is a resurrection. God's part is to grow whatever God wishes to grow. Growing a church isn't hard ... being faithful as the church, that's a different story.

Preach to Yourself

Psalm 43

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Preach to yourself. But preach honestly—within yourself.

There is far too much ecstasy in the church. Ecstasy, from the Greek (έκ-στασις) means to stand outside of oneself. This is the “preaching” of a misguided Christian in which he feels compelled to put on a happy face when he knows, if he were honestly speaking of and to his own wicked heart, that he is a worthless, reprobate sinner.

Ecstatic preaching is the communication of a message centered in the glossy pretensions of a person’s own opinions. Someone steps outside himself and pretends to be something other than what God says of him. There is no call to act spiritually bouncy or religiously virile when the candid truth is that all those heinous things people may say of me are actually true.

In fact, there is nothing so terrible anyone might say about me that isn't actually better than the really awful truth. When ungodly enemies oppress me and the deceitful and unjust man torments me, I have no defense against it. He may take satisfaction in condemning me, but he doesn’t know the half of it.

Of course, God does. God knows all about me, and God is not going to countermand the unjust man on the one occasion he unknowingly stumbles into saying something accurate. For me to step outside myself and affect shock or indignation that someone should regard me as a black-hearted nasty piece of work, that would be sheer dishonesty.

I am black-hearted. I am a maggot. So what kind of a question is it to demand of God, “Why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

Why else? I deserve to be rejected.

What I need is not vindication from the reproach of other lying bastards. What I need is absolution through Christ from the God of our salvation. What I don’t need is defense against unjust liars and critics. But I do need defense against the righteous verdict of the one holy and righteous God.

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

What I need is for God to send me his light and his truth. Instead of interrogating God for letting other people abuse me when it could very well be him—instead be entreating him, “Send me a Savior!” That’s the essence of this prayer. God’s light and truth is Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) Let him lead me. Let him be within me preaching to the real me, preaching sin and grace, Law and Gospel, and death and resurrection.

May that reside within me— God’s light and truth. Then I don’t have to go ecstatically and gleefully skipping around outside myself like a ridiculous cricket chirping about myself and all the swell things I’ve done. There is entirely too much of that sort of nonsense going on in churches these days.

If we are going to go to the altar of God, to His holy hill and dwelling, it is to praise Him! We don’t enter the sanctuary of the Most High to step outside ourselves and take over the central place which belongs to Him. If I am to go into the hallowed house of God, He must bring me. He must atone for me. He must give his favor.

“THEN” – only as He leads me, may I praise him as I ought – not in some ecstatic frenzy, but in the holy joy of knowing my hope and salvation are in my God.

Then go back to preaching honestly to yourself. Interrogate yourself once, “Why are you cast down, O my soul and why are you in turmoil within me?” Knock it off. The Lord is my salvation!